Our Trip To Goodbye
by kat515
Summary: Kate and her family are on a road-trip to California. It is September, and when they arrive it is time to say goodbye to her older brother who is going off the college. ONE-SHOT


**A/N Hey Everyone! This is just a cool little writing piece I did. so I hope you enjoy it!**

"Aren't you packed yet?" hollered my mother from down the hall. "We're leaving at seven in the morning." I grumbled under my breath. I was almost done, but I kept delaying in fear of having to leave my brother, Nick, behind when we finally got to California. All I can say is that it was only a few meager hours before one of the longest and most eventful car rides in my short life.

At six in that morning my alarm clock was blaring in my ear. "No. I don't want to get up," I groaned. "Just ten more minutes." I painfully rolled out of bed to get ready for the long day ahead of me. I got dressed in a pair of worn out jeans and a t-shirt and brushed my teeth. As I shuffled into the kitchen to eat breakfast, I could hear my parents stomping in and out of the door carrying all of the different boxes and bags out to our Toyota Camry. Stuffing the car until it was about to explode was a complete nightmare. We rearranged things so many times to fit it all into the trunk and one of the back seats I started to get a headache. After that was done, only two seats were open in the back for my brother and me. Finally, everything was complete, so I jumped into the car prepared for the ride to come. We would be driving on the famous Route 66 all the way until we reached San Diego where my brother would be attending graduate school.

Let's just say I was squished. I mean, it's not like I hadn't ever been before, but this would be my position for the next four days with a few breaks in between. There was absolutely no room to even move an inch or take a deep breath. There was definitely no personal space at all and there was nothing I could do about it. I was between my family's personal bags that were used for when we stopped at night and my brother. To me, the only good thing about this trip was that I got to miss a week of school because it was already September. While driving on the highway, I could hear the traffic around us and smell the gasoline in the air. My parents were playing the audio book of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the car radio to try and entertain us during this horrific trip.

After a while of listening to the audio book my mom said, "Kate, we're in Springfield, the home of Abraham Lincoln."

"Okay Mom," I replied to her. Just a few minutes later, I got out of the cramped car for the first time since we started the drive. I was relieved to get on my stiff legs and move around a bit. We saw Lincoln and his family's tombs which were all decked out in a pristine building. Around me were a few other quiet people, and outside there was a beautiful garden. The smell of fresh air and the bird's songs really helped clear my mind after the dull interior of the car. After about twenty minutes, my family and I got back into the car and continued on with our journey. Later that evening, we were in St. Louis, Missouri passing by the Gateway Arch. In a few short minutes, we stopped just outside of St. Louis at the hotel we were staying at for the night. It was great to be able to rest at last. As soon as we got to our room, I got into one of the beds, and was immediately out like a light from being so tired.

"Wake up Kate. Wake up!" my brother whispered to me as he tried to shake me awake. It felt as though I had only been asleep for a few minutes.

"Stop it," I mumbled.

"No. You have to get up and get ready to go. We have to drive all the way to Amarillo, Texas, today, so we have to get going."

"Fine," I grumbled as I stood up shakily.

After a quick breakfast, we all got back into the Camry and went on our way. The drive was long and boring again. I was reading and trying to tune out the mind numbing conversation between my parents and Nick. All I could do was continue to sit there and try to entertain myself by peering out the window at waving grass until the end of the day's drive twelve hours later. Amarillo was very cool, and fun to look around in. There were lots of big signs with bright colors and different sculpture like things that made me feel like I was a little kid in Disney Land. At the hotel, I was very tired and ready to sleep. In my mind there was only one thing I could hear myself thinking. _We're halfway there._

The next morning went the same way the others went: get dressed, eat breakfast, and get into the car. Somewhere in New Mexico we stopped to take a picture of some random, but awesome looking sculpture of a Route 66 sign. If you ask me, it looked like a demented rocket ship. A little while later, we stopped at Meteor Crater. It was really quite windy, but nice out; we could start to see the sun set. The crater was fantastic and breath-taking with a faint orange glow.

"Isn't it magnificent?" my dad asked me.

"Absolutely, Dad," I answered him. "I love it."

"I told you you would."

"You weren't wrong," I laughed.

That night we stayed in Flagstaff, Arizona, one of my personal favorite cities to stay in. We ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant, and I ate my fajitas in a blink of an eye. I love it there so much because the first time I went there I thought it was really pretty, but now it see it for more than that. It is like a second home to me; if only I had a house there. The next day we stopped at the Grand Canyon. I had already seen it before, but it was just as spectacular if not more so than I remember. There was an abundance of people there taking pictures at everything they deemed picture worthy. As we drove through the mountains, I could hear the old car clanking and rattling at every bump the road under all of the extra weight. After that painful stretch of the road we were met by glorious highways ready to take us on the last leg of our mission. In less than an hour we would arrive at my brother new home.

Once we reached San Diego, we first drove to the place where he would be staying. Flower gardens were everywhere with palm trees and bumblebees. The sun was shining brightly high in the sky making it tremendously hot outside. The only problem was that we couldn't get a hold of his landlady, Candy, to get the key. We tried calling her, but after a while we discovered that we had her work number instead of her cell phone. After acquiring the right number, we finally reached her and got the key, so we could start to move all of his stuff into his room. My arms were about to fall off by the end of it. I never knew how heavy a box of CDs and DVDs could get. At the end of the day, everything was just about ready. We stayed just outside San Diego. After the sun rose, we explored San Diego and the University of California San Diego's campus. In the middle of one courtyard on campus, there was a giant bear sculpture made of boulders that made me think of a teddy bear. I have no idea why, but it was so funny to look at, but incredibly adorable. The library looked like a spaceship, and was named after Theodor Geisel. I thought it was totally amazing. The ocean was just begging for me to walk into it, and I relished from the feeling of the sand between my toes on the beach. All in all, I loved San Diego, but unfortunately I would be saying goodbye tomorrow.

"I don't want to go!" I cried to my brother because it was time to leave him behind. My parents and I were flying back to Milwaukee in an hour. I could see the strange but sad looks I got from the people around us as I clung to Nick. The salty tears streaming down my cheek were staining his shirt.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," Nick reassured me. "Besides, you know that I'll call you every day and annoy just like I always have."

"Thanks," I replied sarcastically. "Seriously, you will call me though, right?"

"Of course."

"I love you and I'll miss you so much. Don't you dare forget about me," I warned him.

"I never could." He said. "I love you too much, and I'll definitely miss you." After that I was forced to walk away and go the gate. As I sat on my seat in the plane that would take me home, I knew that Nick was happy where he was. It was so hard for me to let him go, but I knew that it was for the best.

Back at home, I was sitting in Nick's dark and quiet room. I was reminiscing about all of the good times we had together here. I was so sad, but so happy for him at the same time because he was fulfilling his dreams that started when he was a kid. As I started to cry, I could hear him saying, _You know I'll never leave you._ He was right, as usual. He never truly left. All he did was take an extended vacation; well, sort of.

**A/N REVIEW PLEASE!**


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